What Will You Actually Walk Away With?
An itemized estimate of what a Tucson home sale nets the seller: brokerage compensation and any concessions, the owner's title policy, the seller's half of escrow, county recording and the two-dollar Affidavit of Property Value, HOA transfer and disclosure fees, a home warranty and repair credits if the contract calls for them, the first and second lien payoffs, and the Arizona property-tax proration — which is a credit to the seller about as often as it is a charge. Every assumption is editable, the arithmetic is shown line by line, and a sale that does not cover what is owed is reported as cash required at closing rather than hidden behind a zero.
What comes out of a Tucson sale price
Sellers almost always start from the sale price minus the commission, and that is short by several thousand dollars. The lines below are the ones a Pima County settlement statement actually carries. Some are customary here rather than required anywhere — custom is not law, and the purchase contract can allocate any of them to either side.
- Brokerage compensation
- Set entirely by your listing agreement. There is no standard rate, and none is set by law, by any association, or by the MLS. Since August 2024 an offer of compensation to a buyer's broker cannot be made through the MLS at all, so if a buyer asks for one it arrives as a term of their offer, alongside closing-cost help or a home warranty — negotiable in exactly the same way.
- Owner's title insurance
- Customarily the seller's in Pima County, and it insures the buyer's title rather than yours. It is not a flat percentage: every title company files a rate schedule with the Arizona Department of Insurance, so the exact premium comes from a quote.
- Escrow and settlement fee
- The escrow company's charge for handling the closing, customarily split with the buyer. It varies more between companies than most sellers expect, so it is worth asking for the fee sheet.
- Recording and the Affidavit of Property Value
- County recording fees plus a two-dollar affidavit. There is no percentage line beside them, because Arizona has no real estate transfer tax — Article IX, Section 24 of the state constitution, added by voters in 2008, prohibits one. Sellers relocating from states that charge a percentage of the sale price often budget for a tax that does not exist here.
- HOA transfer and disclosure fees
- Charged by the association or its management company to produce the disclosure packet and move the file to the new owner. Arizona caps the disclosure fee and the transfer fee separately under A.R.S. §33-1806. Nothing is owed if the home is not in an association.
- Repairs and inspection credits
- Whatever you agree to after the buyer's inspection — the BINSR response. Unknowable when you list, which is the argument for running the estimate with a placeholder in it and seeing how much room the rest of the numbers leave.
- Loan payoff
- The figure from your lender's payoff demand, not your last statement: a statement is a month stale and excludes interest to the day funds actually arrive. Anything else recorded against the property — a second, a HELOC balance, a financed solar system being paid off rather than assumed — has to be released at closing too.
The property-tax proration runs both ways
Arizona bills property tax in arrears, in two instalments due 1 October and 1 March. At closing you settle up for the part of the year you owned the home: usually you owe for days already lived in and not yet billed, which is a charge. But a seller who paid the full year ahead of an early closing is owed money back instead. This calculator shows the figure with its sign and labels it accordingly, because presenting a refund as a deduction would be wrong by twice the amount — and a seller checking the estimate against their settlement statement would find the two disagreeing by that much with nothing to explain it.
When the sale does not cover the loan
The estimate is shown as cash required at closing rather than floored at zero. A seller who is underwater needs that number more than anyone else does, and the options attached to it — bringing the difference in cash, waiting while the balance comes down, renting the home out, or asking the lender to approve a short sale — differ enough in their consequences for credit and taxes that the conversation belongs with a lender or a CPA before the home is listed rather than after an offer is accepted.
What this is not
This is not a net sheet, a closing disclosure, or tax advice. It is arithmetic over assumptions you can see and change, which is what makes it useful for deciding whether to sell at all. The authoritative figures come from an escrow officer working from your actual payoff demand, the title company's filed rate schedule, the real HOA quote, and the terms of an actual offer — and every number here is an estimate those documents replace. The calculation runs in your browser: nothing you type is transmitted anywhere unless you choose to email it.
- Selling in Tucson — Pricing, prep, marketing, and negotiation
- Seller FAQ — Commissions, timing, and what actually moves price
- Free home valuation — A human CMA, not an automated estimate
- Mortgage calculator — What the next purchase costs per month
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to sell a house in Tucson?
Plan on roughly six to eight percent of the sale price in selling costs before any loan payoff, and treat every part of that as negotiable rather than fixed. The largest line is brokerage compensation, which is set entirely by your listing agreement — there is no standard rate, and none is set by law, by any association, or by the MLS. After that come the owner's title insurance policy, which is customarily the seller's in Pima County, your half of the escrow fee, recording fees, HOA transfer and disclosure charges if the home is in an association, and whatever you agree to after the buyer's inspection. Arizona has no real estate transfer tax, so there is no percentage owed to the state or the county — a genuine saving compared with many states, and one that surprises sellers relocating from them.
Does Arizona charge a transfer tax when you sell a home?
No. Article IX, Section 24 of the Arizona Constitution, added by voters in 2008, prohibits any new tax on the sale or transfer of real property, and none was in place before it. What you do pay at recording is small and flat: the county's recording fee plus a two-dollar Affidavit of Property Value. If you are moving from a state that charges a percentage of the sale price, this is one line on the settlement statement that will be far smaller than you expect.
Who pays for title insurance in Pima County?
By local custom the seller pays for the owner's policy, which insures the buyer's title, and the buyer pays for the lender's policy their mortgage requires. Custom is not law, and the purchase contract can allocate it either way, so it is worth reading that line rather than assuming. Premiums are not a flat percentage: each title company files a rate schedule with the Arizona Department of Insurance, so the exact figure comes from a quote. This calculator approximates one so the rest of the arithmetic works, and the real number should replace it as soon as you have it.
How is the property tax proration calculated when I sell?
Arizona bills property tax in arrears, in two instalments due 1 October and 1 March, so at closing you almost always owe for days you have already lived in the home but have not yet been billed for. The proration is your share of the year up to the closing date, less anything you have already paid. It runs the other way about as often as people expect it to run their way: if you paid the full year ahead of an early closing, you are owed money back at settlement rather than charged. This calculator shows the figure with its sign, because treating a refund as a deduction would be wrong by twice the amount.
Do I still have to offer the buyer's agent a commission?
No. Since August 2024 offers of compensation cannot be made through the MLS at all, and there is no requirement that a seller offer anything. What happens in practice is that buyers who have signed an agreement with their own agent may ask for it in their offer, the same way they might ask for closing-cost help or a home warranty, and it becomes one of the terms you negotiate. Set that line to zero in the calculator to see the sale without it, then compare. The right answer depends on your price point and how much competition your home has, and it is worth a conversation rather than a rule of thumb.
What happens if I owe more than my house is worth?
The calculator shows it, as cash you would need to bring to closing rather than as a negative number to interpret. That is the situation where the arithmetic matters most, and it has real options attached: bringing the shortfall in cash, waiting while you pay the balance down, renting the home out, or asking the lender to approve a short sale. Each has consequences for your credit and your taxes that are worth talking through with a lender or a CPA before you list, not after you have an offer. If the estimate here comes out negative, it is a reason to have that conversation early.
Is this the same as a net sheet from a title company?
No, and it should not be used as one. This is arithmetic over assumptions you can see and change, which makes it useful for deciding whether to sell at all. A net sheet comes from an escrow officer working from your actual payoff demand, the title company's filed rate schedule, the real HOA quote and the contract terms of an actual offer. Every figure here is an estimate that the real document will replace. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere unless you choose to email it — the calculation happens in your browser.